Self-righting fish lure

ABSTRACT

A fish lure having a longitudinal downwardly concave bottom surface and a convex upper surface that is high in the central portion and converges at either end of the lure toward the bottom surface. A trough extends along the longitudinal center line of lure from the front edge to the central portion of lure providing a waterway over the lure. Large eyes function to control the erratic but non-violent darting action of the lure in the water. Two sets of hooks are secured to the lure wherein the forward hooks have a longer shank than the rearward hooks.

United States Patent 1191 Swarthout [451 July 17,1973

[ SELF-RIGHTING FISH LURE [76] Inventor: Gerald M. Swarthout, 620Darwin,

Pinckney, Mich. 48169 [22] Filed: Aug. 16, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 172,151

[52] US. Cl. 43/42.34, 43/42.35 [51] Int. Cl A01k 85/00 [58] Field ofSearch 43/4234, 42.33,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 7/1950 Algier 43/4248 UX8/1927 Sinclair et al.. 43/4232 UX 2,493,487 1/1950 Grimm 43/42482,938,293 5/1960 Richardson.... 43/4232 X 2,641,862 6/1953 Poe 43/4235 X2,270,488 1/1942 Withey.... 43/4235 2,781,604

Brown 43/4235 X 2,995,857 8/1961 Arff 43/4234 2,694,877 11/1954 Wise2,665,515

l/1954 Frantello 43/4233 Primary Examiner-Louis G. Mancene AssistantExaminer-Daniel .l. Leach Att0rneyRussel C. .Wells [5 7 ABSTRACT A fishlure having a longitudinal downwardly concave bottom surface and aconvex upper surface that is high in the central portion and convergesat either end of the lure toward the bottom surface. A trough extendsalong the longitudinal center line of lure from the front edge to thecentral portion of lure providing a waterway over the lure. Large eyesfunction to control the erratic but non-violent darting action of thelure in the water. Two

: sets of hooks are secured to the lure wherein the forward hooks have alonger shank than therearward hooks.

3 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJUL 1 7191s I N VliNTOR.

GERALD M. SWARTHOUT Ma Ma.

ATTORNEY 1 SELF-RIGl-ITING FISH LURE FIELD OF INVENTION This inventionrelates to fish lures in general and to control surfaces thereoncontrolling the depth and action of the lure.

PRIOR ART Prior art fishing lures having hollow bodies, have either aninlet water passage to admit water into the body for causing the lure tosink and at the same time using the pressure of the incoming water toforce air out through an outlet passage thereby creating fish attractingair bubbles. Other hollow-body lures have a moveable weight thereinwhich depend upon the speed of lure for causing the lure to move aboutin the water as the weight relocates with the body. Still otherhollowbody lures use the inner surface of the lure to construct the luredesign thereon. However, none of the afore mentioned hollow-bodyluresteach or suggest aselfrighting lure. a

It is therefore a principal object of this lure to attract and catchfish by providing a fish-like appearance and action. a

It is another object of this lure to provide a lure capable of turningover wherever the fisherman is moving the lure through an undesirablelocation.

It is another object of this lure to self-right itself in the waterwhenever the lure is moving through the water.

SUMMARY or INVENTION A self-righting fish lure is disclosed having abody portion with an increasing tapered bill from the front edge towardthe central portion of the body and decreasing tapered tail portionextending from the central portion toward the rear edge of lure. Acentrally extending trough of uniforrnaly varying depth extends from thefront edge of the bill beyond the central portion of the lure to ablending surface on the tail portion of the lure. On either side of thelure and in the central portion thereof are a pair of large eyes whichare positioned so as to have the bottom of the trough below the uppersurface of the eyes. One hook member is attached to the rear surface ofthe lure and a second hook member is attached to the longitudinallydownwardly convex bottom surface of the lure rearward of the eyes. Aleader-attaching eyeis positioned on the bill portion of the lure andalong the longitudinal center line thereof cooperating with theplacement and siie of the eyes, the trough and the two hooking menibersto control the action of the lure within the water.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. I is a perspective view of the fish lure ofthe present invention;

FIG; 2 is a elevation view of the fishlure of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the fish lure of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3illustrating the contour of the trough portion of said lure; I

FIG. 5 is a transverse sectional view taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 3illustrating the trough portion of the bill;

FIG. 6 is a transverse sectional line taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 3showing the trough portion and the relationship of the eyes thereto; and

FIG. 7 is a transverse sectional view taken along line,

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring to the FIGS. by the characters ofreference, there is illustrated in FIG. 1 a perspective view of the fishlure 10 according to the present invention. The body of the lure in thepreferred embodiment is molded or fabricated from a transparent plasticmaterial. Secured about the external surface of the lure are a pluralityof spaced apart scale-like members 12 such as tinsel of either a gold orsilver color. The external surface of the scale-like members arerandomly inclined toward the surface of the body of the lure. The colorof the tinsel depends on the desired appearance of the lure.

The body of the lure 10 is basically an elongated, oblong lure having alength substantially greater than the width. FIG. 4 is a sectional viewof lure taken along the longitudinal center line of lure and serves toillustrate the symmetry of the lure 10 about that center line. As

. illustrated in FIGS. 5-7, the lower or bottom surface 14 of the lureis not flat but has'a curved or convex surface. The upper surface of thelure has a varying profile from a shallow trough 16 at the front orleftend of lure in FIG. 2 toa deeper trough in the central portion of thelure as illustrated in FIG. 6 and then the upper surface blends into thesomewhat rounded upper surface 18 of the tail section.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, the front or bill 20 or planing surface of thelure 10 is a concave surface forming a trough 16 which extends from thefront edge 22 of the lure to and over the crowned central portion 24 ofthe lure. The trough extends to the beginning of the tail section whereit is blended into the upper rounded surface thereof.

The bottom surface 14 of the lure in addition to being convex in thetransverse direction, takes a generally 4 line as far as is practicalfrom a manufacturing stand-.

point. The front edge is not a knife edge inasmuch as the trough 16 isdefined along that edge. The rear or tail edge 26 is a substantialsurface formed by the abrupt discontinuity of the upper tail surface 18which was converging toward the bottom surface 14.

The interior of the lure'10 is hollow in the central portion 24 and thetail section but is solid in the bill 20 section. This gives the tailsection a tubular crosssection wherein the tail edge 26 is closed. Thecrosssection area of the walls of the tail section, in the preferredembodiment are substantially uniform thereby providing a balanced bodyabout the longitudinal center line. The inside surface of the centralportion of the tail section may be covered with a transparent coloredfilm to give a clear but colored appearance to the lure.

Along the longitudinal center line of the lure there are positionedthree eyes 28, 29 and 30 for securing a line leader 32, and two sets ofhooking members 34 and 36. The eye 28 to which the fishing line leader32 is secured is positioned on the bill surface at a point closer to thefront edge 22 than to the central portion 24 of the lure. The first eye29 for securing a first hooking means 34 is on the rear or tail verticalsurface 26 of the lure. The second eye 30 for securing a second hookingmeans 16 is on the bottom surface 14 at approximately the boundarysurface of the central portion and the tail portion of the lure.

The hooking means 34 and 36 attached to each of the two hooking eyes 29and 30 comprise a shank portion 38 and 40 terminating at an eye at oneend and a plurality of angularly spaced hooks 42 at the other end. Inthe preferred embodiment, there are three hooks at the other end of eachshank 38 and 40. The shank portion 40 of the second hooking means 36attached to the bottom surface eye 30 is longer than the shank portion38 of the first hooking means 34. This added length changes the weightof the two hooking means and puts the greater weight attached to thebottom surface causing the lure to land right side up when cast into thewater. All hooks 42 of both hooking means are identical in size andshape.

Attached to either side of the lure l and in the central portion thereofare a pair of eyes 44. Each eye is basically a portion of a sphere andeach extends outwardly from the body of the lure. The eyes are detailedin that each contains a pupil and have the appearance of large eyes of afish. This large fish-eye appearance of the two eyes 44 attracts thefish to the lure since a fishs killing instinct is to strike at the eyeof its prey. The eyes are positioned along the side of the lure in sucha manner that the bottom of the trough 16 in the central portion 24 ofthe lure is below the uppermost surface of the eye 46.

Additionally as illustrated in the FIGS., there are two bosses 48 and 49on the inner surface of the lure to secure the threaded portion of thetwo hooking eyes 29 and 30.

The trough 16 which extends in the central portion 24 of the lure 10,functions to force the lure to go to greater depths than would otherwisebe attainable. In the preferred embodiment, the lure will go to depthsof 10 to feet while lures not having this trough need a special nosesection generally long and scoop-like attached to the lower part of thelure to go to this depth.

Cooperating with the trough 16 to control the depth of the lure 10 isthe placement of leader eye 28 and the speed of the lure through thewater. With the eye 28 positioned closer to the front edge 22 of thelure, the speed of the lure will control the depth of the lure. If thelure 10 is pulled at a fastspeed, the lure will turn over in a bottom upposition and rise to the surface. Conversely, if the lure is pulled at amuch slower speed, the lure will seek greater depths. Therefore, if afisherman desires to avoid a weed bed while trolling or casting, he needonly move the lure at a faster speed thereby causing the lure to surfacewith the bottom side up. Trolling speeds can be controlled by the actionof the lure.

The larger eyes 44 not only function as appearance members of the lurefor attracting fish but also provide a desired weight in the centralportion 24 of the lure l0 and further stabilize the movement of lurethrough the water. Again in cooperation with the trough 16 asillustrated from the front edge 22 to the tail section, the action ofthe lure is not of any set or repeatable pattern but will move indarting action from side to side in an erratic but non-violent manner ofa fish.

The hollow portion of the lure 10 body provides a buoyant effect to thelure causing the lure to surface at a slow speed or stopped condition.In addition, the balance of the lure due to the position of the eyes 44,the solid bill 20 and the hollow body cooperates to float the lure rightside up. In addition, when casting the lure 10 it will always landbottom side down in the water and will not turn over when the lure ismoved through the water.

There has thus been shown and described a fishing lure having a troughextending from the front edge thereof over the crown portion of thecentral portion of the lure toward the tail section. The trough providesa waterway for the passing water as the lure moves relative thereto andadditionally cooperates with the large eyes, the position and size ofthe hooking members and the position of leader eye to control the depthand action of the lure in the water.

What is claimed is:

1. A self-righting fish lure comprising:

a body portion having an increasingly tapered bill from one end toward acentral portion of said body and having a decreasing tapered tailportion abruptly ending at the other end of said body,

a centrally extending trough extending from the end of said bill towardand beyond the central portion of said body the bottom surface of saidtrough being an arcuate concave surface in a transverse section of saidbill and terminating on said tail portion of said body, pair of eyemembers positioned on either side of said body at the central portionthereof, said eye members extending outwardly in a spherical manner oneither side of said body, said eye members positioned to have a portionthereof extending above the bottom of said trough, pair of long-shankhook members, a first longshank hook member extending from the abruptother end portion of said body and a second longshank hook memberextending downwardly from said body forward of said abrupt end portion,said first hook member having a shank length less than the shank lengthof said second hook member, both of said hook members extending fromsaid body along the vertical plane through the longitudinal axisthereof, a leader attachment positioned along the center line of saidtrough and substantially nearer said one end of said bill then saidcentral portion of said body, plurality of irregular scale-likereflective tinsel members randomly secured to and inclined toward saidbody, said random positioning providing areas of scale-removed bodypatches.

2. A self-righting fish lure according to claim I wherein the bottom ofsaid body is convex across its width and longitudinally downwardlyconcave from the end of said hi" to approximately said second hookmeans.

3. A self-righting fish lure according to claim 2 wherein said tailportion extending from said central portion of said body to said abruptend is tubular with the side walls and the end wall thereof ofsubstantially uniform cross sectional area.

a a a: 10: a

1. A self-righting fish lure comprising: a body portion having anincreasingly tapered bill from one end toward a central portion of saidbody and having a decreasing tapered tail portion abruptly ending at theother end of said body, a centrally extending trough extending from theend of said bill toward and beyond the central portion of said body thebottom surface of said trough being an arcuate concave surface in atransverse section of said bill and terminating on said tail portion ofsaid body, a pair of eye members positioned on either side of said bodyat the central portion thereof, said eye members extending outwardly ina spherical manner on either side of said body, said eye memberspositioned to have a portion thereof extending above the bottom of saidtrough, a pair of long-shank hook members, a first long-shank hookmember extending from the abrupt other end portion of said body and asecond long-shank hook member extending downwardly from said bodyforward of said abrupt end portion, said first hook member having ashank length less than the shank length of said second hook member, bothof said hook members extending from said body along the vertical planethrough the longitudinal axis thereof, a leader attachment positionedalong the center line of said trough and substantially nearer said oneend of said bill then said central portion of said body, a plurality ofirregular scale-like reflective tinsel members randomly secured to andinclined toward said body, said random positioning providing areas ofscale-removed body patches.
 2. A self-righting fish lure according toclaim 1 wherein the bottom of said body is convex across its width andlongitudinally downwardly concave from the end of said bill toapproximately said second hook means.
 3. A self-righting fish lureaccording to claim 2 wherein said tail portion extending from saidcentral portion of said body to said abrupt end is tubular with the sidewalls and the end wall thereof of substantially uniform cross sectionalarea.